Method of knitting hosiery



Jy E2, 14. R. H. LAWSON 2,475,845

METHOD OF KNITTING HOSIERY Filed July 5, 1946 41.1. v ,Ljjiif ji p'vROBERT H. LAWSON 39 his afZ-Z-orneys Patented July 12, 1949 UNITEDSTATEEi hATENT OFFICE METHOD OF KNITTING HOSIERY Application July 5,1946, Serial No. 681,547

8 Claims.

This invention relates to the knitting of fabrics and more particularlyto the knitting of hosiery on circular knitting machines and it is anobject of this invention to provide a method of knitting hosiery toes oncircular knitting machines which will facilitate the placing of thehosiery on the points of a looping machine for the looping of the toe.

In knitting a hosiery toe, upon completion of the narrowing andWidening, a loose course or courses of lengthened stitches is knit to beplaced upon the points of the looping machine and the loopers rounds orwaste courses are then knit. Where the courses are all knit of the sameyarn, the placing of the loose course on the points of the loopingmachine is a slow and costly process. Efiorts have been made to make acontrast between the stitches of the loose course and those of priorknit courses but this necessitated a yarn change exactly at thebeginning of the loose course in order to insure correctly placing thelonger loops of the loose course on the points of the looping machineand such yarn change was found to interfere with the correct and rapidplacing of the loops on the points of the looping machine.

To overcome the difficulties of prior methods of knitting the toe andattempts to facilitate the placing of the longer loops on the loopingmachine, the hosiery, including the heel and toe, is to be knit bytwo-feed knitting, two-feed reciprocatory knitting being provided forthe knitting,

of the heel and toe. Irrespective of the yarns used in knitting the bodyof the stocking this permits of a contrast being efiected whichdistinguishes the loose course and facilitates looping of the toe,preferably the contrast being effected by the yarns of which the entiretoe is knit so a yarn change at the looping course is avoided.Reciprocatory knitting of a toe of contrasting yarns provides,throughout the reciprocatory knitting, pairs of adjacent courses of thesame yarn separated by pairs of adjacent courses of the contrasting yarnand, when the reciprocatory knitting is completed, the first completecircular course, which will be a loosecourse knit of yarn fed at themain yarn feed, will be of the same yarn as the last reciprocatory knitcourse. The second circular knit course, which will also be a loosecourse will be knit of the contrasting yarn feed at the auxiliary yarnfeed. Thereafter alternate courses will be knit of the sam yarn so thatthe last reciprocatory knit course and the first circular knit courseform the last pair of adjacent courses knit of the same yarn and providea means for the expeditious identification of the loops of a loosecourse and the opposite ends of the last pair of successive courses ofthe same color serve to locate the adjacent loops at which the turns inthe looping are made.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a partial diagrammatic View showing the loop arrangement inthe narrowing and widening of a hosiery toe in accordance with thisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a partial view in elevation showing a hosiery toe before thelooping operation is performed; and

Fig. 3 is a partial view in elevation showing a hosiery toe with thelooping operation completed.

In the drawing there is shown a toe portion T of circular knit hosieryhaving the toe knit by reciprocation of the contrasting yarns Y and Yand formed of pairs of adjacent courses knit of the same yarn and spacedby pairs of adjacent courses knit of the contrasting yarn. The lastreciprocatory knit course I is knit of the yarn Y which is fed at themain yarn feed and immediately upon completion of the course I the firstcomplete circular course 2 is knit of the same yarn Y. The course 2 is aloose course having the long loops and the second complete circularcourse 3, knit of the yarn Y is also a loose course. Thereafter, thecircular loopers or waste courses are knit of the yarns Y and Y inalternation.

Being the last course of the pairs of successive or adjacent courses thefirst circular knit loose course 2 and the second circular knit loosecourse 3 of the contrasting yarn are readily identified and followed inplacing the loops of a loose course on the points of a looping machine.In placing the long loops on the points, the wales 4 at the oppositeends of the last pair of adjacent courses of the same yarn serve toidentify the adjacent loops which mark the turning point or end loops inplacing the loops on the points of the looping machine. While the toehas been shown as closed on the top of the stocking foot it is to beunderstood the toe may be closed at the bottom of the stocking footwithout departing from this invention. The yarns may be renderedcontrasting by the use of suitable fugitive dyes which 'are removed inthe finishing operations on the hosiery leaving the finished hosiery ofone color as well as by the use of dyes which permanently dye the yarnsin contrasting colors. While loose courses knit at each feed have beenshown and described, it is to be understood that a single loose courseknit at one feed could be provided by the use of the movable stitch camshown in the U. S. patent to H. N. Sheppard No. 2,200,209, and still bewithin the scope of my invention.

This application is a continuation in part of my patent No. 2,440,280,dated April 27, 1948.

What I claim is:

1. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting the toe ofreciprocatory knit courses of separately knit contrasting yarns forminggroups of courses of said yarns in alternation, knitting the lastreciprocatory knit course and the first full circular knit course of thesame yarn, knitting the immediately following full circular knit courseof a contrasting yarn, knitting said full circular knit courses as loosecourses, and knitting the subsequent full circular knit courses of saidyarns in alternation whereby said first loose course and said lastreciprocatory knit course form the last successive pair of courses ofthe same yarn and contrast with the immediately following courses tofacilitate the engaging of the loops of a loose course on the points ofa looping machine.

2. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting the toe ofreciprocatory knit courses of separately knit contrasting yarn forminggroups of courses of said yarns in alternation, knitting thelastreciprocatory knit course and the first full circular knit course of thesame yarn, knitting said first full circular knit course as a loosecourse, and knitting the immediately following full circular knit courseof a contrasting yarn whereby said loose course and said lastreciprocatory knit course form the last successive pair of courses ofthe same yarn and contrast with the immediately following course tofacilitate the engaging of the loose course loops on the points of alooping machine.

3. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting .the toe ofreciprocatory knit courses of two separately knit contrasting yarnsforming pairs of courses of said yarns in alternation, knitting the lastreciprocatory knit course and the first full circular knit course of thesame yarn, knitting said firstfull circular knit course as a loosecourse, knitting the immediately following full circular knit course ofa contrasting yarn and knitting subsequent courses alternately of thetwo yarns whereby said loose course and said last reciprocatory knitcourse form the last pair of coursesof the same yarn and the oppositeends of said last pair of courses indicate the locations of the endloops for placing the loops of said loose course on the points of alooping machine for closing the stocking toe.

4. In a method of knitting a stocking toe, the steps of knitting the toeof reciprocatory courses of separately knit contrasting yarns forminggroups of courses of said yarns in alternation, then knitting the firstfull circular-knit course of the same yarn as the preceding course andknitting an immediately following full circular-knit course of the otherof said contrasting yarns, at

least one of this first pair of full circular-knit courses being a loosecourse, followed by knitting the contrasting toe yarns in single-coursealternation, whereby engaging loops of a loose course on the points of alooping machine is facilitated.

5. In a method of knitting a stocking toe according to claim 4, the useof yarns which are fugitive dyed to cause the contrast between theyarns.

6. In a method of knitting a seamless stocking toe, the steps ofknitting the toe from a plurality of stations whose yarns arecontrasting, by reciprocatory knitting, thereby forming groups ofcourses of said yarns in alternation, knitting the last reciprocatorycourse and then a first full circular-knit course of the same yarn atthe same feeding station, and knitting circularly at the difierentfeeding stations in alternation thereafter, at least one of the firstpair of circular-knit courses being a loose course, whereby the yarns inthe circular courses give a single-course alternation so that theopposite ends of the last group of courses knit of the same yarnindicate the 10- cations of the end loops for placing the loops of aloose course on the points of a looping machine for closing the toe ofthe stocking.

7. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting a toereciprocatorily of a plurality of separately knit contrasting yarns byforming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, in combinationwith the step of bounding the toe on the side to be looped with a seriesof circular knit courses of the to yarns in single alternation, in whichat least one of the first two such circular knit courses adjacent thetoe is knit loose, whereby engaging loops on the points of a loopingmachine is facilitated.

8. In a method of knitting a stocking toe, the steps of knitting the toereciprocatorily of a plurality of separately knit contrasting yarnsforming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, and thenknitting a loose, circular course of the yarn used in the precedingcourse, thereafter immediately forming continuing circular knit coursesof contrasting toe yarns in single alternation, all without yarn change,whereby engaging loops on the points of a looping machine isfacilitated.

ROBERT H. LAWSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 928,165 Wilson et a1 July 13,1909 1,052,877 Ames Feb. 11, 1913 2,097,763 Hemmerich Nov. 2, 1937FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 258,600 Great Britain Oct. 27, 1927

